Tab XXVIII
31.
RHODODENDRON CAMELLIÆFLORUM, hooljh.
Camellia-flowered Bhododendron.
T a b . X X V I II .
Frutes plerumque epiphyte, péndulos, laxus, parce ramosos, ramulis pedunculis petiolis foliisque subtus (junioribus utrinque) dense lepidoto-
squam ulosis ferrugineis, foliis petiolatis ellipticis utrinque acutis acuminatis muticisve, costa valida pereursa, pedunculis brevissimis
axillaribus sobtariis, calycis lobis appressis rotundatis coriaceis, corolla carnosa, tubo brevi basi globoso, lobis patentibus orbicularibus,
staminibus 16 radiatis, filamentis crassis, antberis majusculis, stylo crasso decurvo, ovario glabro 10-loculari, capsula brevi oblonga
10-loculari.
H ab. Sikkim-Himalaya; pendulous, generally from trunks of trees, often of Pines, sometimes from rocks, not unfrequent; elev. 9-11,000 feet.
FI. July; Jr. December.
This very abnormal species is more allied, in some respects, to the section including B . lepidotum, than to any of the
others: in foliage it resembles B. Maddeni, though so much smaller a plant, and also B . cinnabarinum, from which the
dried flowerless specimens are not easily separable. The same very stout percurrent costa of the leaf is common to all these.
Stems two to six feet long, seldom thicker than a goose-quill, branches long, generally pendulous, though when
growing on cliffs often obscurely so. Leaves, as usual in the genus, at the apices of the. branches, differing in little but the
size from those of B . Maddeni, two and a half to three inches long. Peduncles axillary or terminal, very short and stout.
Calyx half the length of the tube of the corolla, very coriaceous, lepidote, one or more lobes at times lengthened and membranous.
Corolla sparingly lepidote, an inch and a half across, of a very thick texture, pure white with a faint rosy tinge,
all the segments obtuse and entire. Stamens very large for the size of the corolla: filaments incrassated and hairy at the
base, also thickened below the anther, which is remarkably adnate and large, orange-red. Ovarium short, white with lepidote
squamuke. Style very stout, decurved, gradually enlarging to the abrupt disciform stigma. Capsule woody, broad,
squamulose, obtuse at both ends, three inches and a quarter long; often diseased, and then spherical (fig. 4). The similarity
between the flower and that of a single (wild) Camellia has suggested the trivial name. Odour, as in all the lepidote
species, more or less strongly resinous according to the heat of the day.
T ab. xxvrn. Bhododendron camelluejlonm. Pig. 1. Stamen. 2. Peduncle, calyx, and pistil. 8. Transverse section of ovarium. 4. Fruit,
diseased. 5. Portion of under side of leaf. 6. Squamuke from the same:—all except figure 4 magnified.